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Laflin votes to study police regionalization

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Restructuring proposal could reduce county debt by $8.5M

<p>The streak continues, thanks to some thunder.</p><p>Eddy Rodriguez and Ji-Man Choi both clubbed two-run homers Tuesday and rehabbing Tyler Austin accounted for two runs in his native Georgia as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders rolled over Gwinnett 7-2 for their fifth consecutive victory.</p><p>That gave the RailRiders nine straight wins at Gwinnett&#8217;s Coolray Field, dating back to last season.</p><p>Austin got it all started, slamming an RBI single to center field in the first inning to give the RailRiders a quick lead.</p><p>After Dansby Swanson doubled home Ronald Acuna to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first, the RailRiders really unloaded.</p><p>Rodriguez drove his two-run shot off the retaining wall in left field to give the RailRiders a 3-1 lead in the second inning.</p><p>That blossomed to 5-1 in the fifth, when Donovan Solano and Jake Cave each doubled home a run.</p><p>And Choi closed the scoring in the seventh with a booming two-run homer.</p><p>Both of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s homers came with two outs and six of the RailRiders&#8217; seven runs scored on two-out RBI.</p><p>Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Caleb Smith ran his record to 9-1 by settling into a groove and retiring 11 straight batters and 13 of 14 from the first to sixth innings before surrendering a solo homer to Kyle Kubitza. The RailRiders improved to 15-3 when Smith pitches. The IL All-Star struck out nine and allowed two runs on six hits and one walk over six-plus innings.</p><p>Relievers Tyler Jones and Nick Rumbelow combined to post three scoreless innings. Rumbelow has not yet allowed a run in 10 appearances and 17.1 innings with this year&#8217;s RailRiders. He&#8217;s held opponent to a .155 batting average (9 for 58) with 16 strikeouts against five walks.</p><p><strong>Notes: </strong>The New York Yankees said Tuesday rookie left-handed starter Jordan Montgomery was demoted to the RailRiders in an attempt to limit his innings.</p><p>New York acquired Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, and they will remain in the rotation with Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, and CC Sabathia.</p><p>The 24-year-old Montgomery was optioned to the RailRiders on Sunday evening after going 7-6 with a 4.05 ERA in 21 starts and 115 2/3 innings. New York wants him to pitch about 180 innings this year. He set a career high with 139 1/3 innings at Double-A Trenton and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to shorten some outings down there just to cut back a little bit,&#8221; Yankees manager Joe Girardi said before Tuesday&#8217;s series opener at Toronto. &#8220;I think he&#8217;s disappointed but, as I tried to reassure him, it&#8217;s because we really care about him. This is not just a one-year deal for him. We envision him being a starter here a long time and we want to make sure we don&#8217;t push him too hard.&#8221;</p><p>Montgomery was removed from Saturday&#8217;s 2-1 win at Cleveland after allowing one run and three hits in five innings. Girardi said Montgomery may rejoin the Yankees&#8217; rotation after active rosters expand from 25 to 40 on Sept. 1.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re very comfortable putting him back in the rotation if duty calls,&#8221; Girardi said.</p><p>In other roster moves affecting the RailRiders, right-handed pitcher Bryan Mitchell was promoted to the Yankees from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, while left-hander Nestor Cortes was moved from Double-A Trenton to the RailRiders. Also, RailRiders reliever Jonathan Holder was placed on the seven-day disabled list and Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks &#8212; who spent the past few games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre &#8212; had his minor league rehab assignment transferred to Trenton.</p><style>
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Rodriguez, Choi club homers as RailRiders roll past Gwinnett